ARKANSAS. 



27 



resistance to the laws thereof, or as aiders or abettors 

 thereof, or as guilty of any disloyal practice in aid 

 thereof, or of affording aid and comfort to those en- 

 gaged therein, and all proceedings and acts done by 

 the military forces, or had by the courts-martial or 

 military commissions, or arrests, imprisonments, 

 searches, or seizures, made in the premises by any per- 

 son by the authority of the orders or proclamations 

 of the Governor of the State made as aforesaid, or in 

 aid thereof, or otherwise, are hereby approved in all 

 respects, legalized, and made valid to the same extent 

 and with the same effect as if said orders, proclama- 

 tions, and acts, had been issued and made, and said 

 arrests, imprisonments, searches, seizures, proceed- 

 ings, and acts, had been done under the previous 

 express authority and direction of the General Assem- 

 bly of the State of Arkansas, and in pursuance of 

 the laws thereof previously enacted, and expressly 

 authorizing and directing the same to be done ; and 

 no courts of the State of Arkansas shall have or take 

 jurisdiction of, or in any manner review any of the 

 proceedings had, or acts done as aforesaid ; nor shall 

 any person be held to answer in any court of said 

 State for any acts done or omitted to be done, in pur- 

 suance of or in aid of any of said proclamations or' 

 orders, or otherwise, by any of said force or forces 

 within the period aforesaid, and all officers and other 

 persons in the State of Arkansas or who acted in aid 

 thereof, acting in the premises or otherwise, shall 

 be held prima facie to nave been authorized by the 

 Governor of the State : Provided, that nothing herein 

 contained shall be so construed as to prohibit the 

 convening of courts-martial for the trial of persons 

 belonging to the militia or State guards of the State. 



SEC. 2. This act to take effect from and after its 

 passage. 



A vast number of residents within the coun- 

 ties under martial law suffered heavy losses 

 on account of its operation, private property 

 of all kinds having been taken away from them 

 for the use of the military force stationed 

 therein, by order of the officer, and in many 

 cases they were violently deprived of it hy 

 the soldiers without authority. In the ahove- 

 cited message of March 22d, the Governor 

 acknowledges, "Evils have resulted to indi- 

 viduals hy the occupancy of counties hy the 

 militia;" and adds, "in some cases unau- 

 thorized bands have robbed and plundered 

 indiscriminately." In justice to those people, 

 therefore, he urged on the Legislature the 

 necessity of establishing " a court of claims to 

 adjudicate demands arising out of the operations 

 of martial law," this court " to sit for a suffi- 

 cient period in each county where martial law 

 existed, and holding a final session at the seat 

 of government, being empowered to examine 

 and adjudicate in reference to all supplies taken 

 by the quartermaster's and subsistence depart- 

 ments, so that those who are properly entitled 

 may receive pay for supplies furnished." This 

 matter, however, had been taken in hand al- 

 ready hy members belonging to both branches 

 of the Legislature, a hill having been intro- 

 duced in the lower House on March 19th, "au- 

 thorizing the Governor to appoint a court of 

 claims to take proof of the indebtedness of the 

 State to citizens for property taken hy the 

 State guards; appropriating for that purpose 

 $50,000 out of the military funds not otherwise 

 appropriated." A similar hill was introduced 

 on the 20th in the Senate, where it passed, 



with some amendments, on April 8th, by a 

 vote of twelve to three. The House bill, or 

 rather its substitute, appointing, instead of a 

 court to he established hy the Governor, " a 

 committee of the members of the Legislature 

 to audit and adjudicate claims against the State 

 on account of property taken by the militia 

 forces of the State," and appropriating for it 

 " the sum of $200,000," instead of $50,000, was 

 passed on April 9th, the vote being thirty-nine 

 yeas and fifteen nays. The Senate, to whom 

 the passage of the bill was announced hy mes- 

 sage on the same day, took it up on the next 

 before noon, the hour previously fixed by a 

 joint resolution for adjournment, when other 

 bills were sought to be pushed through, and 

 thus it was not finally acted upon. 



One of the most remarkable enactments 

 made by the General Assembly of Arkansas at 

 the last session was the " funding of the puh- 

 lic State deht," a large proportion of it being 

 of a very extraordinary character. The bill 

 " authorizes and requires the Governor to fund 

 the deht of the State, consisting of the bonds 

 issued by the State to the Real Estate Bank 

 and State banks, by issuing new bonds of the 

 State in lieu of the old honds issued to the 

 said Real Estate and State banks ; " ordaining, 

 that " the amount of the new honds (of $1,000 

 each, payable in thirty years after date the 

 1st of January, 1870 and bearing interest at 

 the rate of six per cent, per annum, with 

 coupon-warrants attached) shall he the amount 

 of the old bonds with accrued interest there- 

 on ; said interest to be computed from the time 

 of the last payment of interest upon said old 

 bonds to the date of the issue of the new 

 bonds ; " that is, amount of the old bonds is- 

 sued to the Real Estate Bank, $500,000, in- 

 terest accrued on the same from September 7, 

 1840, to January 1, 1870, $870,000, making 

 together $1,370,000, and bearing an annual 

 interest to be paid by the State of $82,200. 

 The proposal of this measure excited great op- 

 position both within the halls of the Legisla- 

 ture, and among the people and press through- 

 out the State, the opponents professing their 

 readiness to pay whatever the State owed on 

 any account, but refusing to sanction the pro- 

 posed bill, because, so far as the honds issued 

 to the Real Estate Bank may he concerned, 

 above three-fourths of the debt sought to be 

 funded and imposed upon the State had no 

 existence whatever. The facts connected with 

 the origin and subsequent circumstances of the 

 said bonds were well known, and set down 

 in a decision hy the Supreme Court of Arkansas, 

 as follows : 



On the 1st of January, 1840, the State issued to the 

 Real Estate Bank, in pursuance of its charter, five 

 hundred bonds for $1,000 each, bearing interest, etc., 

 to be sold at par, for the purpose of procuring bank- 

 ing capital, etc. On the 7th of September, 1840, the 

 cashier of the bank, with the approval of two of the 

 b,ond commissioners, entered into a contract with the 

 North American Trust and Banking Company of 

 New York, by which that company agreed to loan the 



